Both U.R.S. cruisers flew out of the atmosphere and slowed their pace now that they were out of harms way.

“Where to Commander?” Officer Field asked Flare on The Manip’ and he replied,
“Just get us to a safe distance from the planet for now. We’ll have a conference and discuss what to do next later.”
“Very good sir.” The Officer saluted and walked away.

“Now, I’m going down to check on Blast. Coming?” Flare asked Shock and Nightblaze, removing his helmet as he did.
“I’ll come.” Nightblaze replied but Shock replied in the negative saying,
“I’ll stay here, keep an eye on things.”

So with that Flare and Nightblaze left the room, in discussion about whether the other had witnessed Blast’s fall or not and the outcome was that neither had seen him get shot but Nightblaze had seen him hit the ground. Flare had been completely unaware of the incident until it had come through the coms from Padfoot.

Down in the depths of the ship, Padfoot was by Blast’s side as he lay unconscious on a bed in the medical bay. He’d been immediately, carefully removed from his armour and been operated on straight away. He now lay on a metal bed, covered only by a sheet with his head on a thin pillow, his left shoulder bandaged up and in a sling.

Flare and Nightblaze quietly walked in and Padfoot, whose helmet was by his feet, turned to look at them.

“How is he?” Nightblaze asked as they looked down on him.
“He’ll pull through apparently. It’s good they got him here so quick; any longer and he probably would have lost his arm.” Padfoot answered, glancing over at the medics a short distance off, tending to another wounded soldier.

One of them saw him looking and made their way over to the small group gathered around their leader’s bedside.

“He’ll be okay then?” Flare checked with the male surgeon.

“Yes. He should be. There’s no reason why not. He came very close but he’s all right now. We’re going to keep him in here for a while after he’s woken but it shouldn’t be long before he’s back in business.” The medic answered. He walked to the foot of the bed and pulled a folder full of notes from a holder hooked onto the rail. He flicked through some of the pages and followed several lines with his finger as he read them.

He peered around Padfoot and checked a small computer monitor showing Blast’s heartbeat, noted some numbers down and placed the folder back where’d got it from.

“Thank you for your work.” Flare said to him as he made to leave. The medic nodded and smiled his appreciation of the thanks then walked away back to his colleagues.

The group stood in silence for a minute more, looking down upon their unconscious leader, all thinking their own private thoughts and then Nightblaze gently patted Blast’s leg.

“Get better soon mate.” He told the unconscious man then nodded to his other two comrades and headed for the exit.

A few moments later, Flare left silently leaving Padfoot to stand by R.K.’s side, keeping a watchful eye on him.

Later That Evening…

The seal on the door hissed as the wheel on the outside locked it shut. Captain Biosnake’s poseable metal hook released its grip on the wheel and he turned away from the door, growling to himself as he walked away down the corridor deep in the heart of The Desolation.

Rogue, who was coming the other way, stood to the side as the mad scientist stomped past. He momentarily looked after him and then shook his head slightly, walking on.

In his private quarters, Iadsgb sat in his chair with his elbows resting on the desk and his chin in his fists, glaring out of the window, still furious about the U.R.S.’s escape earlier in the day.

He slammed his fists down and spun the chair round to face the opposite direction and put one leg up onto the knee of his other. He rubbed his chin, thinking about what happened, what he could possibly do now and what was still to come.
Even though the U.R.S. had escaped their grasp, ultimately, they’d got what they went for on Ryloth.
The U.R.S. had wiped out nearly the entire population of that town, but what they didn’t know, was that the F.I.S. had already taken 100 civilians captive, prior to the bombings and they were now locked away on board The Desolation. Test subjects.

In the 2-month gap that came after the end of the war against the OvaSeers, Captain Biosnake had gone to Iadsgb with a formula he had been working on. ‘Delta-4’ he called it. The scientist had been working on it in the base on Racshaw at the start of the war when the base had been blown up with him trapped inside.

But he had re-started his work on the formula for the chemical serum and had now in his opinion perfected it and had notified Iadsgb of his success. Biosnake wanted to use it against the U.R.S. straight away but his Commander forbid it, wanting to see it’s effects in testing first. So Biosnake had asked for numerous test subjects and between them, the F.I.S. leaders had decided that it would be best to take the subjects from an out-of-the-way planet so nobody would miss them.

But then Iadsgb had had an idea; What if they could capture the U.R.S. in the same strike? So he’d sent an anonymous intelligence file to the enemy, telling them where they’d be going to trick them. But his plan to capture them had just gone awry and so he now had to quickly plan his next steps because it would not be long before the U.R.S. realized what they were doing. Iadsgb himself had boasted to Blast when they’d emerged from the bunker in the town that all they were after were subjects. Blast was smart; Iadsgb knew that better than any. He’d know what they’d done and he’d come for them. The U.R.S would never let civilians be tested on, especially not after what they themselves had just done to a whole town.

He bit his lip and made a choice. Quickly standing, he yanked open his door and speed-walked out, slamming it shut behind him.

“Prepare for immediate take off.” Iadsgb commanded as he strode on to the bridge a couple of minutes later.
The F.I.S. cruisers were still sat on Ryloth, waiting for Iadsgb’s orders and so the pilots were ready instantly. They started rushing around and firing up the massive engines.

“Where to sir?” Jamie Clift asked.
“Balitron 7.” Iadsgb replied.
“But isn’t that abandoned?” Clift questioned.
“Yes but we need to go there.” The head of the F.I.S. answered.

Jamie nodded and gave repeated the command to the pilots who entered the co-ordinates.

Clift walked back to join Iadsgb as he headed to the viewing window.
“May I ask why we’re heading to an abandoned asteroid sir?”

Iadsgb stayed silent for a few moments, gazing out over the dusty landscape as the ship slowly started rising up and then answered his second in command’s question.
“Because that’s where the main processing plant for Delta-4 was.”
“Wasn’t it abandoned though?”
“Yes. There was a leak while the chemical was still being perfected. Nobody knew what it would do, especially not to humans, not even Biosnake. I couldn’t risk it so I ordered the plant evacuated. It was still leaking when we left, I have no idea what it’ll be like now but we need that chemical. Biosnake needs the original serum so that he can adjust it. It cannot be started from scratch.” Iadsgb watched the colors around them flare as they exited the atmosphere and then everything outside turned black as they entered space.

“Sir. We’re ready to make the jump to hyperspace.” A captain informed him.
“Do it.” Iadsgb said without looking around, stood with his hands behind his back.

“Very good sir.” The captain marched off calling out orders and a few seconds later, the stars outside blurred and both F.I.S. cruisers fired into hyperspeed.

BUT WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT? FIND OUT IN PART 7! COMING THURSDAY 23RD MAY!

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